Tailscale troubleshooting

If the iPhone and the Mac are on the same Wi-Fi, you do not need Tailscale at all, and you can ignore the rest of this page. PocketCtrl always tries the local route first.

You will still see Tailscale is Off at home in one situation: the Mac you saved was last reached through Tailscale, so the phone tries that address first. Tap Connect over local Wi-Fi on that screen and it will search the local network instead. If that also fails, the devices are probably not on the same network; see Are my devices on the same network?.

Tailscale creates a private network (a tailnet) between devices you sign in with the same account. Each device gets a stable private address that begins with 100.. When your Mac is hosting and Tailscale is connected, PocketCtrl includes that address in the pairing code, and the phone can reach the Mac from anywhere: cellular, a hotel, another country.

Traffic is encrypted end to end by Tailscale (WireGuard) and again by PocketCtrl with each device's own key. Tailscale usually finds a direct path; when it cannot, it uses one of its relays, which forwards the encrypted packets without being able to read them. You never open ports on your router.

Tailscale is a separate company and product. PocketCtrl is not affiliated with it. The free Personal plan covers this use. Tailscale quickstart

1. Is Tailscale installed? If not, follow the setup guide.
2. Click the Tailscale icon in the Mac's menu bar. It should say Connected and show your account. If it says Not connected, choose Connect. If it asks you to log in, do so.
3. Back in PocketCtrl, open the Host panel and expand Network. Within a few seconds the Tailscale row should show an address starting with 100.
4. If it still says Not detected, quit and reopen PocketCtrl. It re-reads the network interfaces at launch and whenever they change.

PocketCtrl shows this card with two buttons. Which one you want depends on where you are:

• Away from the Mac: tap Turn On Tailscale. iOS opens the Tailscale app; toggle it on and, if asked, sign in. Return to PocketCtrl and it continues automatically. If Tailscale is not installed, the button reads Get Tailscale and opens the App Store.
• Next to the Mac on the same Wi-Fi: tap Connect over local Wi-Fi. No Tailscale needed.

Tailscale is on but PocketCtrl still says it is off

• Open the Tailscale app. It must say Connected, not just be installed.
• Check Settings → VPN on the iPhone. Tailscale should be the active VPN. iOS allows only one VPN at a time, so another VPN app can knock Tailscale off.
• Tailscale keys expire after a period set by your tailnet (180 days by default). If the app shows a Reauthenticate prompt, complete it.
• Low Power Mode and aggressive battery settings can pause VPNs in the background. Bring Tailscale to the foreground once.

1. Same account, same tailnet. Open Tailscale on each device and look at the account name. They must match. If you have a work tailnet and a personal one, both devices must be in the same one. Each device should appear in the other's device list.
2. The Mac is hosting and its Network section shows a Tailscale address. See above.
3. The Mac is awake. Tailscale cannot wake a sleeping Mac. Turn on Keep Mac awake while hosting in PocketCtrl, or set the Mac not to sleep in System Settings → Energy.
4. Ping test. In the Tailscale app on the phone, tap the Mac in the device list and copy its address. If Tailscale itself cannot reach the Mac, the problem is with Tailscale, not PocketCtrl. Tailscale has its own troubleshooting guide.
5. Exit nodes. If the phone uses a Tailscale exit node, all its traffic goes through that node. It still works, but try turning the exit node off if connections are unreliable.
6. Re-pair. If the Mac was paired while Tailscale was off, the phone may have saved only a local address. Generate a new code on the Mac with Tailscale on and pair again.

• Direct versus relayed. A direct connection is fast; a relayed one (through a Tailscale DERP server) adds latency. Tailscale shows which you have. Networks with strict NAT force relays; there is little to do except try a different network. See Tailscale connection types.
• Lower the quality. In PocketCtrl on the phone, open Settings and drag Detail and FPS down. Leave adaptive bitrate on. The quality controls explain the trade-offs.
• Cellular. Upload speed at the Mac's end matters more than download at the phone. A Mac on slow home upload will be choppy no matter what the phone does.